Presidential election: Jim Gavin fails to answer questions about failure to register apartment

'I didn’t register it, yeah,' Mr Gavin said. He was also asked about reports that a former tenant of the rental property was not reimbursed rent he had overpaid 

Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin responding to questions over the apartment that he failed to register with the Residential Tenancies Board. Picture: Conor O'Mearain/PA

Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate Jim Gavin has failed to answer questions about not registering a rental property, saying he needs to do “research”.

It was reported that a former tenant overpaid Mr Gavin €3,000 in rent that he has not returned since 2009.

The Irish Independent reported that the former Dublin GAA manager had failed to register the Smithfield property with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), as required under law since 2004.

After getting into financial difficulty, Mr Gavin and his wife, Jennifer, surrendered the home to the banks.

Speaking to the media following the RTÉ presidential debate on The Week in Politics, Mr Gavin could not provide any more information on what happened.

During the debate, he said, “if it happened, I’m sorry it happened”.

“It happened 16 years ago. [It was] a very stressful time for Jennifer, myself, family,” he told reporters.

“I'm still gathering data [and] information. When I have that, I'll take comprehensive action, and I’ll share that with you [the media] as well.”

When the Irish Examiner asked Mr Gavin how many tenants had rented the property after the 2009 dispute and when he surrendered the property to the bank, he once again said he was “still gathering data”. He said; 

It's part of my life that I have left behind. So I still need to do a lot of research.

“We lost it, we lost the flat, and we've moved on and just have one property now, our home for our family.”

Mr Gavin repeated that the law regarding registered tenancies with the RTB was “new” and “the majority of people” did not register their properties. The requirement was introduced in 2004, with the dispute happening in 2009.

When asked if he accepted that he broke laws, Mr Gavin responded: “I didn’t register it, yeah.”

Catherine Connolly 

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly, meanwhile, repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether she asked Ursula Ní Shionnáin if she was still a member of Éirigí when she hired her to work in Leinster House.

Ms Ní Shionnáin was sentenced to six years in prison in 2014 for firearm offences. She was released in 2018 after four-and-a-half-years.

The Mail on Sunday reported that Ms Ní Shionnáin was under surveillance by anti-terrorism gardaí following her release. Ms Connolly said she knows “nothing about that”.

She repeatedly refused to answer whether she had asked her about her Eirigí links when she was hired.

She said: “I had a discussion with her, and, more importantly, with those who recommended her, that she was absolutely a changed person.

“I fully stand by that. Éirigí is a registered political party. It is not registered as a violent party, a registered political party by the Electoral Commission."

Heather Humphreys

Fine Gael’s candidate Heather Humphreys, meanwhile, was asked about her views on transgender issues following the release of Barbie Kardashian from prison.

“In my book, a woman is a female adult, and a man is a male adult,” she said.

“That's my belief. But we know the world is not black and white, and there are complexities there. Obviously, it's a difficult situation.”

When asked if she would classify an adult who transitioned from a male to a female as a woman, Ms Humphreys said she would “classify them as a trans woman, they're in transition”.